MSFS Community Folder Question

[Aussieflyer38]

I've been doing a lot of reading re the update, and a lot of you guys, deleting your community folder. So, if I follow suit, does that mean I have to reinstall all the files Orbx, Aerosoft etc into my community folder? I read that some of you are having trouble with "freeware" scenery files, I don't have any, so I guess I can cross that off the list. The thought of having to reinstall all my other stuff, well nah, not on, so that being the case  I guess I'm stuck with what I have, which is the occasional freeze and having to fix my views. 

Microsoft, software developers for years, sim developer - FSX, and with all this experience, can't produce a updated sim, (original MSFS), and then an updated version without creating more problems. So guys, do I REALLY have to delete my community folder?        

 

 

Don

[John Dow]

If using the Orbx Library system the Community Folder only contains links to the library.

 

At any time the folder can be renamed and a new Community folder established, once testing or reinstall etc has been done it can be reinstated.

 

Warning; If uninstalling and reinstalling MSFS ensure the Community Folder is copied to somewhere where the uninstall (deletion) of the whole MSFS folder won't delete it as well.  (Permissions mean you usually can't just copy it anywhere

 

[Nick Cooper]

33 minutes ago, Aussieflyer38 said:

deleting your community folder.

 

Hello,

there is no need to delete anything.

An update to MSFS does not touch the Community folder, I have no intention of trying to uninstall MSFS to see if that does.

The best way to disable the Community folder is to rename it to CommunityX.

In my experience, an installation of MSFS away from its default location produces no restrictions on the Community folder.

Just as well really, I have 11 of them, all with slightly different names.

[craigeaglefire]

1 hour ago, Nick Cooper said:

Just as well really, I have 11 of them, all with slightly different names.

Wow,

 

what a legend!

[Nick Cooper]

Not really.

Instead of using the Addon Linker, which is a very good program,

I store scenery for different areas in different Community.XX folders and rename them

to Community as required for the flight in question.

Given that probably 90% of problems with scenery addons are the result of a conflict

with another addon, it not only reduces the chances of that but also makes finding the

culprits an easier job.

[adambar]

1 hour ago, Nick Cooper said:

 

Hello,

there is no need to delete anything.

An update to MSFS does not touch the Community folder, I have no intention of trying to uninstall MSFS to see if that does.

The best way to disable the Community folder is to rename it to CommunityX.

In my experience, an installation of MSFS away from its default location produces no restrictions on the Community folder.

Just as well really, I have 11 of them, all with slightly different names.

Nick,

I just did a complete install of MSFS and it did indeed delete everything in my community folder.   Just as well, I wanted a clean slate and start from scratch again anyway. 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

thanks, I guessed that much, having no intention of trying it, that's why I was careful to write "update".

As Microsoft make the rules, I suppose that they can do anything they want but the general

rule is that a good installer will only uninstall that which it installed in the first place.

Years ago, installers were more basic and just deleted the entire product folder, perhaps they

have used that method.

[Aussieflyer38]

14 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

 

Hello,

there is no need to delete anything.

An update to MSFS does not touch the Community folder, I have no intention of trying to uninstall MSFS to see if that does.

The best way to disable the Community folder is to rename it to CommunityX.

In my experience, an installation of MSFS away from its default location produces no restrictions on the Community folder.

Just as well really, I have 11 of them, all with slightly different names.

 

Thanks Nick. Sorry, you'll have to excuse my lack of computer expertise. If I rename my Community folder CommunityX as you suggest, does that mean the  computer wont be able to access that folder? If so, what's the point, sure you keep all of the files within that folder, but if the computer can't find/access them, then I don't understand. You have several Community folders, so when you click on a place/scenery/airport, you want to fly to, does the computer automatically find it in the relevant Community folder? 

Thanks for taking the time to help.

 

Don  

[John Dow]

3 hours ago, Aussieflyer38 said:

 

Thanks Nick. Sorry, you'll have to excuse my lack of computer expertise. If I rename my Community folder CommunityX as you suggest, does that mean the  computer wont be able to access that folder? If so, what's the point, sure you keep all of the files within that folder, but if the computer can't find/access them, then I don't understand. You have several Community folders, so when you click on a place/scenery/airport, you want to fly to, does the computer automatically find it in the relevant Community folder? 

Thanks for taking the time to help.

 

Don  

Renaming the folder is only a step to hide it, so another folder can then be named Community, and accessible to MSFS. Useful for hiding all scenery add-ons, so that add-ons can be individually moved into the new community folder for checking. Nick's multiple folder system is a different kettle of fish. 

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks John,

Renaming the folder is only a step to hide it, so another folder can then be named Community, and accessible to MSFS. Useful for hiding all scenery add-ons, so that add-ons can be individually moved into the new community folder for checking. Nick's multiple folder system is a different kettle of fish. 

 

So as I understand it, if I have all my files, (Airports/Scenery) in CommunityX folder and I want to fly from Brisbane to Sydney, I need to transfer both of those files into my main Community Folder for MSFS to find them and load them. 

 

[Nick Cooper]

7 hours ago, Aussieflyer38 said:

Thanks Nick. Sorry, you'll have to excuse my lack of computer expertise. If I rename my Community folder CommunityX as you suggest, does that mean the  computer wont be able to access that folder?

 

Hello,

 

just to expand a little further, despite allegations to the contrary, computers are entirely based on logic.

Therefore, in this example, Microsoft Flight Simulator has been programmed to recognise a folder named Community.

Because the PC is only logical, "Community" is the only folder name that Microsoft Flight Simulator can see, so any change,

however small to the folder name "Community" means that Microsoft Flight Simulator cannot see it.

"CommunityX" is the easiest way to do this and the easiest to reverse for support purposes.

The PC can of course still see CommunityX but that does not matter, as the key thing is that 

Microsoft Flight Simulator cannot see it.

 

As to multiple Community folders, because Microsoft Flight Simulator can see only the folder named "Community",

it is perfectly safe to have other Community folders in the same place, so long as none of them is named Community.

For example, if I have addons stored in a folder that I have chosen to name "Community UK" and I wish to use them instead

of the Orbx addons, then I rename the Community folder to "Community ORBX", so that it is easy to recognise and the

Community UK folder to "Community".

Microsoft Flight Simulator can only "see" the Community folder, so the next time that it starts, it loads the UK scenery instead

and does not load the Orbx scenery.

 

To address the question that you asked while I was typing, there is no need to move any files at all and the whole purpose of

renaming is to make that unnecessary.

So long as the scenery you want to use is in a folder inside the Microsoft Flight Simulator folder and that folder is named Community,

then Microsoft Flight Simulator will see it and use it.

If that folder was named "Brisbane and Sydney" and inside the game folder, then renaming the Community folder to CommunityX, or

indeed anything but Community, and renaming the "Brisbane and Sydney" to Community will make Microsoft Flight Simulator see

the Brisbane and Sydney scenery without any files having been moved.

 

It's not really a computer skill at all, just the application of a little logic to achieve an aim.

There are other ways to achieve the same, this is just one relatively straightforward way.

 

[Gulfstreamtwo]

To expand on the discussion a bit, the whole rationale for the renaming exercise is threefold.

 

One, whenever you update the sim as you note, MS and most experts suggest emptying the Community folder to prevent potential issues with the update and/or add-ons in the folder. After a successful update (and closing the sim), you put everything back in. Instead of moving add-ons out to another location and adding them back, renaming the folder as Nick suggests is easier for most people.

 

Two, the more add-ons living in the Community folder, the slower the sim loads. If you only have a few add-ons, the slight additional time is worth avoiding the bother of renaming folders when you change where you want to fly that day. With many add-ons in the Community folder however, the loading time increase is quite noticeable, so that's where one of the several ways of minimizing what's in that magic Community folder (the one the sim looks for) come in.

 

Three, it's well established that sometimes, an error/bad file in one add-on can affect another add-on. This is true even for add-ons in different continents, and especially with add-ons from the smaller publishers or freeware. The universal approach to finding the bad apple is to start with a clean Community folder containing only your new good add-on and methodically adding your other add-ons to see which one causes the problem. There's several techniques for finding the culprit when a lot of add-ons have to be checked. Once found, it's usually safe to have one or the other of the fighting pair in the Community folder at a time.

 

I hope I haven't overtaxed your understanding, Don. Sometimes a good question like yours leads another to ask for the "why?" behind the first "why?".

[Aussieflyer38]

Thanks Gulf, I appreciate you adding your "two cents" worth.  My computer experience is very limited, having worked for a company with it's own IT guy and the rest of us just having to point and click. You don't gain much computer knowledge this way, and I probably have learned more here seeking answers/info, than anywhere else. It has been a huge leap. Thanks to guys like you, Nick and John, I am slowly learning how some of it works, in most cases enough to get by on, until MSFS has a major stuff up like now, really takes the fun out of it, messing about trying to make things work.

I will set up a couple more Community folders to hopefully make things run easier/better, bit of a PITA, but one does what one has to do. I have found that one has to be very careful with a lot of the information on YouTube, or maybe I should say "misinformation" and conflicting posts, it can lead to mass confusion to the uneducated in computers. 

Thanks again for your input.

 

Don